A critical shortage of medicines is pulverising Namibia’s public health sector – the first time this has happened in the country’s 36 years of independence, and resulting from the government’s decision to halt procurement after it uncovered fraud in the supply chain, reports News24.
The Ministry said that staff and people doing business with it have been linked to the fraud, with Executive Director Penda Ithindi adding that the manipulation of stock data and theft and diversion of supplies resulted in the deliberate creation of artificial shortages, apparently to generate public panic and trigger emergency procurement processes.
“The Ministry has launched a comprehensive internal investigation,” he said, and was working closely with law enforcement.
However, suspending procurement has now led to a major shortage of medicine at government facilities, with procedures being cancelled and patients having to buy medicine for chronic illnesses at private clinics or from across the border.
Sources have reported a shortage of essential anaesthetic agents at Windhoek Central Hospital and the Katutura State Hospital, causing cancellation of elective surgical procedures.
A doctor at Engela Hospital in the north of the country said the facility had run out of essential chronic medication for hypertension, diabetes and ophthalmology, resulting in the suspension of surgeries and putting patients at risk of permanent blindness.
Dr Matthew Angula said the hospital’s eye clinic did not have any critical drugs used in the treatment of sight-threatening conditions.
“Right now, it’s no work for us. We cannot function as an eye clinic without these drugs, and can’t even do cataract operations. Until these drugs are available, we have to sit, sip coffee, and be on Facebook,” he said.
Opposition parties have accused the government of gambling with people’s lives, with the National Unity Democratic Organisation’s Vetaruhe Kandorozu saying the culprits should have been dealt with without stopping the procurement process, and expressing scepticism about claims by Health Minister Esperance Luvindao that medicine stock levels were at 60% after some recent deliveries.
“The real delivery is only a few tablets, syrups and condoms in limited quantities, while hospitals are still operating with very little stock,” he said, adding that with state theatres not operating fully, patients were having to be transferred to private hospitals at the government’s expense.
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